Scour
by CalliopeKismet
Summary: The Force has chosen Rey and Kylo for something greater than themselves. But she refuses to accept their destiny until he makes a drastic decision about his. (smut, angst, Force-sex, and Reylo babies)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey! So, this is the first fanfic I've written for Star Wars! It's also the first smut fic I've ever written (ooohhh). That being said, I *do* have an idea of where this could potentially go, so I may or may not continue it. Your thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated. :)**

* * *

 _ **Scour**_

The moons of Ach-To hung high and blindingly brilliant in the evening sky, their enchanting luminescence casting a gentle, radiant glow on the world beneath them. The island's vast, ink-black ocean roared and thundered in the distance, the faint cries of a gaggle of porgs echoing against the sea's hollow wail.

Rey shivered in the bitter air, but didn't let the cold slow her down. She tightened her grip on the holster that was slung diagonally across her chest, housing her saberstaff, and continued her aimless trek through the darkness. She wasn't entirely sure where she was headed to; all she knew was that she had to _get_ there.

She'd been in dire need of the chance to really settle in and clear her head since arriving on the island. Her energy had, so far, been split between two tasks: convincing Luke Skywalker to train her (which had taken a great deal of tenacity - he'd only recently agreed to it), and fighting off the dark, looming influences of his nephew.

Ever since the destruction of Starkiller Base, since the moment Kylo Ren entered her mind and saw her deepest, most intimate thoughts, something... _strange_ had been happening. She probably should have told Master Luke about it, but the man already seemed so frazzled and paranoid, that she figured it would be better to deal with it alone. Even still... whatever was happening between them... it was getting worse.

A _Force Bond_ was what Kylo kept calling it; a connection between the minds and hearts of two force-sensitive individuals, allowing them to see into each other's thoughts and feel the other's emotions at will. He was very adamant about reminding her of the spiritual implications of the Bond: it was a union deigned by the Force itself, willed by the higher powers of the universe. In short - it was fate.

Rey shivered again, not from the cold, but from the ugliness of that word, and all the ugly connotations it carried with it. A _fated union_? Between her and _Ren?_ The thought alone made her feel sick.

 _"We cannot continue to ignore this..."_ Kylo had whispered to her one night, the same night that he seemed to have given up fighting what was becoming more and more inevitable. His voice called to her like a searing, forbidden sonata as it echoed through the chambers of her frayed mind, and Rey winced at the sound. _"We cannot hide from each other... the need to... to be near you... it's too great... I know you feel it, too..."_

She'd immediately pushed him away at that, falling into a listless sleep, ignoring any and all attempts he made to reach out to her again. She could give a kriff what the universe wanted. Kylo Ren was a monster. He was a pathetic, lowly, inhumane _animal_ , and she would stop at nothing to bring him - and the First Order - to justice. She _hated_ him.

And yet... even still...

She'd be lying to say she wasn't feeling the effects of the Bond, or whatever the hell it was. The empathy they'd developed for each other had become so natural and so refined, that it was difficult to know where Ren's feelings ended and hers began. There were nights where she'd lie awake in bed, hating herself in a way she never had before, wanting nothing more than to just... be _near_ him. There were days where she'd be training with Master Luke, and a rogue thought or emotion would filter through her brain - usually an intense, all-consuming rage - that she knew for certain couldn't have come from her.

And then there was something else...

The Bond greatly warped her perception of reality. It clouded her judgment. It got the best of her, time and time again, and it was making her feel... _attracted_ to him. Physically. The fixation and shared consciousness had gradually turned to lust. She imagined him touching her with his large, powerful hands. She envisioned the sight of his tall, rippling frame beneath the layers of endless black. She wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through his dark, feathery hair. She wanted to... to...

"No," Rey said aloud, anchoring herself back to reality. "You're not thinking clearly. Just... relax. Just empty your mind and relax..."

Suddenly, the world around her begin to shift.

She felt the Force crackle and buzz with energy as a distinctive, heady pressure formed like a dark cloud at the edges of her mind. Rey gasped, the sensation stopping her dead in her tracks. The feeling itself wasn't unpleasant - on the contrary, it was disgustingly familiar, almost… _comforting_ \- but it was certainly unwelcome. She tried to push it out as quickly as she'd felt it, but the pressure was too strong, too persistent.

" _Scavenger…"_

She scoffed in annoyance as his voice rang out in a faint whisper, like a plume of wind echoing over the roaring sea. She tugged at the strap of her staff holster and resumed walking, faster now, as if to outrun the pull of his omnipresent call.

" _Are you there…?"_

The weight in her head was building. Her vision blurred, ears starting to ring and goosebumps raising on her skin as he reached for her. She hid from him as best she could, masking her distinct signature through the Force, but he was too quick. He was always _right there_ , trailing behind her, gaining momentum.

" _Couldn't you at least answer me..._ _?"_

She ignored him. She pushed into the Force with as much strength as she could muster, trying to cast him out, but he clung to the connection before she could break it, re-entering with a vigor that made her feel dizzy.

" _What good will it do to resist me?"_ Kylo Ren asked. The bite in his baritone voice suggested he was no longer toying with her, but now legitimately annoyed. " _You know you can't hide."_

"Shut- _up_ ," she muttered between clenched teeth, ascending a large rock and pulling herself on top of a bluff. She scanned the moonlit waters below, crashing against the shoreline, and shut her eyes again, concentrating, attempting once more to push him out.

She could feel the Force twisting and bending beneath the weight of their tug-of-war, her trying to snap the connection while Ren held on desperately.

" _I'm not letting you pull away,"_ he growled. " _There are matters between us that bear discussion."_

"I have nothing to say to you, Ren."

He scoffed. " _Is that so?"_

"Yes. So why don't you do the both of us a favor and _leave me alone_? I have no desire to talk to you. Not now, or tomorrow, or ever. Do you understand?"

He was silent for the briefest of instances, before letting out a deep, labored sigh. " _You're as stubborn as a bantha, sand rat."_

"And you're twice as foolish as one."

He pressed on, disregarding her vexation. " _I've been trying to reach you for days. Why are you ignoring me?"_

She paced the length of the bluff, again moving faster, desperate, wanting to do anything in the world but talk to _him_.

"Because you're revolting and I despise you. I assumed that was clear."

He actually laughed at that, a foreign, low-pitched sound that was strangely disarming, having come from him.

"'Despise' _me… you may lie so freely to yourself, Scavenger, but you can't lie to me. You know that. The Bond doesn't allow much room for secrecy."_

 _Ugh._ She wished he would stop giving credence to it. She wished he would stop making it real.

" _But it_ is _real,"_ he told her, a hint of desperation in his voice. " _And for the life of me I cannot understand why you choose to run from it…"_

"Just leave me alone!" Rey cried out. Her heart was racing and her voice was strained in its sheer urgency. A surge of emotions welled up inside of her just then - rage, shock, pain, disappointment, fear - and she couldn't decipher which feelings were his and which were her own.

She shut her eyes in an effort to fight off the sudden sting of tears. "Just… _please_ ," she whispered, defeated. "Please leave me alone…"

Kylo Ren was silent for a moment. In fact, the stillness stretched on for so long, Rey would've assumed he'd actually left, if not for the fact that she could still _feel_ him. When he did speak again, his voice was tight, measured in its tone yet still wracked with emotion. He sounded almost... wounded...

" _I can't."_

She opened her eyes and found him standing right in front of her.

The cliffs were gone. The ocean had vanished. In fact, the island itself was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the two of them were standing in some mysterial place she'd likely only ever visited in dreams. A dark, hazy, empty realm, swirling with thick plumes of mist, the ground beneath their feet throbbing and humming with raw, unrestrained energy. Rey gasped, looking around her in shock. She'd heard Master Luke speak of places such as this before; of a sort of Force nexus - a state of consciousness comparable to a lucid dream, where Sensitives could meet while being miles away, where everything happened in their heads yet still felt _real_.

And that was precisely what Rey told herself as Ren regarded her silently, her heart starting to race.

 _It isn't real. He isn't really here,_ she thought. _This is all happening in my mind..._

"I wouldn't take much solace in that, if I were you," he replied breezily to her internal monologue.

The wicked knight loomed above her, tall and strikingly powerful, but Rey refused to feel intimidated. The long, winding scar she'd given him made him seem older somehow, a distinctive mar against his otherwise youthful (if not jaded) face. His full lips were parted in an odd sort of reverence as his hazel eyes danced across her countenance, surging with an intensity she could feel down to her bones.

She swallowed, surprised by the sudden hoarseness in her throat. "Why are you _harassing_ me - ?"

"Surely you don't think I _want_ any of this, do you?" he asked, ignoring her. He broke their gaze, and she could feel his desire, his ache for her, and the shame that immediately followed it. "Do you think I enjoy having to live like this? A shell of a man, lying to myself, lying to the Supreme Leader, going on without the one thing I desire more than anything in the galaxy… that I can _never_ have?"

She clenched her jaw, her body beginning to tremble of its own accord. "That isn't my problem."

"But it is," he snapped, looking back up to once again disarm her with the power of his stare. "Because you feel exactly the same as I do." He took a step towards her. She stepped back. "The Force has willed this Bond between us. You can't pretend that it has no affect on you. It is conscious-altering. It drives you mad with an insatiable need to be near the other person…"

She shook her head. "I'm not listening to this…"

"You know it's true, Rey..." His eyes were beseeching as they searched hers, and in that moment, it was as though the fearsome warlord Kylo Ren had vanished, and in his place stood Ben Solo, a desperate man making a dangerous plea. He continued to advance on her, and she continued to retreat. "I am not usually a man who begs, but..." he trailed off. Shook his head. He swallowed and cast his gaze to the ground, and when he looked up to meet hers once more, his eyes were wild and scorching, his voice undulating with emotion. "I can't take this anymore..."

She glared at him. "I don't care."

He took a final step, and this time, she held her ground. She tried to ignore the stirring in her lower belly, the racing of her heart as Kylo gazed down at her with a hunger that set her nerves ablaze. "You have feelings for me."

He hadn't posed it as a question, but rather, a statement of facts. Rey scoffed. "You're delusional," she snapped.

"And you're exasperating. I know you better than anyone," he went on. "Better than Skywalker. Better than Leia Organa. Certainly better than that... fresher-scrubber you're always running around with - FN-2187..."

"His name is _Finn_ ," she snarled, "and let me remind you of this, since you seem to have conveniently forgotten: _you_ are my _enemy_. You have tortured my friends. You're on a warpath to kill my Master. You have the blood of thousands of innocents on your hands, including your own _father's_."

Ren twitched at that, but didn't dare look away.

"Bond or not, you're a wretched, despicable beast, and the only thing I'd ever _want_ from you is to see you lying in a grave."

He blinked, his expression betraying that he'd been stung by her words, before he quickly pushed it away. "Those friends of yours?" he spat, "The traitor, those fools with the Resistance, _Luke Skywalker_ … they can't protect you. They don't _matter_. All that truly matters is who you'll find in your darkest hours, in those definitive moments when it seems you have no one but yourself. And what will you discover in those moments, Scavenger?" He leaned in close. "That all you really have is _me_."

Rey glared at him, feeling the rage and pain surge within her until it reached a furious breaking point. She slapped him, hard enough to elicit a grunt of surprise from the tall, darkly-clad man before he turned back to face her with a livid stare.

"I _hate_ you," she wailed, her vision glossing over with a fresh swell of tears.

Ren looked at her, panting, eyes drinking in the contours of her face, before he crashed his lips against hers in a wild kiss.

Rey wanted to fight him off. She wanted to shove him away and return to the island, invigorated with a new sense of strength. But she didn't. She _couldn't_. Her body seemed rooted to the spot, her hands seeming to move of their own accord as her fingers tangled themselves in his dark, silken hair. Ren moaned against her mouth as his tongue fought for control of hers, while his gloved hands left streaks of fire against her skin as they pulled and groped and clawed.

Rey's head lolled back in ecstasy and his lips viciously attacked her neck, biting and sucking. Stars… she _hated_ him. She hated him for doing this to her. She hated him for making her want this, making her feel like there was nothing in the world that would satisfy her more than the feeling of his large, powerful body overwhelming her.

She pulled back, taking his head in her hands and kissing him deeply, biting his lower lip, hard enough to draw a rivulet of blood. He groaned, shuddered, and the two of them stumbled at the mutual loss of feeling in their legs, somehow ending up tangled on the floor. She was straddling him, panting, meeting his heady gaze with a glare. And with the speed of a viper, he captured her wrists and threw her on her back, pinning her down, looking at her with the intensity of a wolf about to devour its prey.

Hours might have passed as they held each other's stare. The sound of their combined, labored breathing and the thrumming of the terrain beneath them filled the atmosphere, and Rey could feel _everything_ coming from him - the rage. The hatred. The torment. The self-loathing. The desire.

He was the first to break the silence. "Not quite as audacious when I've got you held down underneath me, are you, Scavenger?"

With a grunt, she tried to push him away. He held on, his jaw taut with determination. She sensed the Force refining itself under his instruction, seizing hold of her body and immobilizing her where she lay. She gasped in frustration, paralyzed, powerless beneath him. The unified weight of his strong body and the Force's potent influence was draining the air from her lungs, and she sputtered and struggled, reaching out with her mind, fighting (and failing) to break his intense, concentrated control.

Rey gasped. The pressure on her chest was winding up towards her throat by his unspoken command, tightening like a fist. It was getting dangerously hard to breathe, and - judging by the unhinged, calculating glint that flickered in his dark eyes - that was wholly intentional. But even through his determination and thirst for blood, his maddening desire to end her life (and, in turn, his own everlasting turmoil), she could feel his lust. His need. And she tore into the Force, exploiting it, overpowering his mind with feelings and sensations of passion so agonizingly potent that she could actually feel it weakening him.

The pressure at her throat began to dull as his concentration faltered, his breath coming out in increasingly ragged pants, his body trembling, his eyes falling half-lidded. Rey lifted her chin defiantly, feeling both triumphant and viciously aroused at the sight of him like this.

She ground her hips into the firmness that was building against his inner thigh, drawing out an agonized grunt from the man on top of her.

"You're weak, Ren," she said, breathless, taunting him. "You can't even kill me because of how badly you want to fuck me. And you're _pathetic_ for it."

The expression on his face was somewhere between dangerous fury, inconceivable shame, and raw, simmering lust.

"And what's worse," she went on, "this is the only way you'd be able to do it. By force. For all your talk of some intrinsic, insatiable need I have for you, I'd rather _die_ than give myself to you freely."

Kylo snarled, cupping her chin and forcing her to meet his wrathful stare. "Your obstinance will be the death of me."

She clenched her teeth. "Good."

And with that, he kissed her again, this time with enough ferocity to knock the wind from her lungs. She let out a yelp of surprise as his teeth and tongue began to explore every inch of her mouth with unrestrained fervor, transitioning again to her neck, her earlobe, her collarbone. She trembled with every graze of his lips, felt her insides somersault at each passing, heated gaze.

He broke the kiss suddenly, taking a fistful of her dark hair and yanking it back, hard enough to draw an aroused whine from her lips.

"I may not be able to kill you, sand rat," he said, his voice low and heated. "But I will fuck you within an inch of your life."

"Do what you will," Rey said defiantly. "I'll never give in."

"Oh, you'll give in," he promised her. "And you'll do so _willingly_ \- dripping wet and screaming my name."

There was an intensity and thirst she'd never known before in the way he undressed her, his breathing ragged and his hands moving like lightning as he tore off the robes and fabric that concealed her tanned skin from his view. And she took note of the way his hands trembled as he reached up and undid the ridiculous, dark cape swaying around his shoulders, followed by the belt that secured his black tunic, until he was looming above her in a sleeveless shirt, suspenders and trousers, pulling off his gloves with his teeth. The act itself - the muscles of his broad arms rippling as he tossed the articles aside with abandon, eyes never once leaving hers - was somehow incredibly sexy.

"I'm going to make you cum harder than you've ever thought was possible," he told her, lowering his suspenders and pulling off his shirt to reveal the scarred, strapping figure underneath. "By the time I'm finished with you - I swear by the Force itself, you'll never dream of resisting me again."

Rey was already wet, her nether regions throbbing with anticipation and need, but she'd never admit it aloud. "We'll just have to see about that…"

He tore off the last few concealments clinging to her sinewy frame, letting out a groan of arousal as he took in the sight of her. His large hands trailed upwards from her hips and reached for her modest breasts, fingers twisting and caressing her nipples in a rhythm that made her throw her head back and bite her lip in an effort to stifle her moans.

His lips soon replaced his fingers, and with a needy sigh, he began sucking and biting, hard enough to surely leave bruises, but not in a way that she found at all unpleasant. Rey couldn't conceal the moan that tore from her throat as shock waves of electricity coursed down her spine and went straight to her clit.

Kylo chuckled darkly at the sound. "Look at you, Scavenger," he teased. "You want me to take you already, and I've hardly even _touched_ you."

She didn't speak, didn't protest as one of those large, talented hands slid down her body, fingers easing gently into her core, rocking back and forth, making contact with that sensitive area inside herself she'd never been able to fully reach. Her toes curled, and she let out another groan of desire.

"Stars, you're tight," he growled. " _W_ _et_. And all because of me." He gave her a wicked smirk. "How unfortunate for you…"

"Go to hell," Rey said in a strangled voice.

He didn't retaliate, instead lowering himself between her thighs and pressing his mouth against her swollen clit.

Rey gasped as waves of exhilaration tore through her nerves, like a clap of lightning lighting up a dusky sky. His tongue and lips were swirling and sucking, doing wild, inconceivable things to her body, lapping at her with a ferocity that made her head spin. It was almost too much...

"N-No..." she gasped feebly, her brain and mouth operating on two different wavelengths, "You have to... to... _ah..._ "

"What was that?" Kylo asked tauntingly.

"You have to... to stop..."

"Stop?" his tone was laced with derision, the faintest of smirks playing against his mouth as he gazed up at her from the apex of her legs. "Doesn't seem like you want me to stop at all."

He was right. Rey's head was thrown back, eyes shut, lips parted as she moaned and twisted in ecstasy. She was no stranger to physical pleasure - she'd had a partner or two back on Jakku, and she was certainly an expert in the ways of self-satisfaction - but this felt… _different._ Perhaps it was the fact that it was all happening in her head, a clever trick of the Force that allowed their shared fantasy to play out like a dream.

Or maybe it was just him. Maybe it was just the ardor and eagerness with which his mouth devoured her pussy, the chill-inducing ecstasy that came with seeing the dark warrior wild-eyed and powerless to his own lust.

Whatever it was, the pleasure was astonishing.

He pulled away suddenly, and her body twitched at the loss of warmth, before his fingers began circling her clit once more. He watched her while she moaned and writhed and gasped, his dark eyes burning like gas lights from beneath the curtains of his raven hair, lips puffy and slick, chest heaving in a ragged pant.

"You're infuriating," she breathed.

He smirked slightly. "Why? Because you're enjoying this more than you'd care to let on?" he growled, his fingers slipping deeper inside of her. Her only response came in the form of a hiss between clenched teeth and he bit his lip, groaning. "I knew you would. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist me for long."

He took one of her wrists in his hand and yanked it down to cup his cock, thick and firm and leaking.

"Do you see what you do to me?" he said, moving her hand up and down to stroke it. His breath hitched at the contact. "Leaving me hard as a rock from just the _taste_ of you... I guess we're both weak, aren't we? We're both only human. The Force is greater than all of us. No one would blame us for being powerless against it."

Something struck a nerve in her at that. _No._ She was done with his teasing. He was enjoying this far too much. Rey narrowed her eyes, propping herself up against her elbows. Using a trick she'd picked up on in combat, she tightened her thighs, twisted her body, and pushed forward until she was straddling him again. Kylo let out a grunt of surprise as he landed on his back, his eyes wide with sudden apprehension as Rey glared at him.

"On the contrary, Kylo," she said. "I'm the one with all the power..."

He didn't have much time to process this before she sank down onto his length, uttering a strangled cry of want that sliced through the mystical quiet of their otherworldly domain. He felt larger than she'd imagined he would, and her body opened and stretched to accommodate him. She pushed down on him again, and again, relentless and ardent, wanting to see him squirm, to falter, to lose his control. And he did, grunting, muttering curses under his breath. Rey's hands coursed down his chest as she dug her nails into his alabaster skin, trying to mark him, trying to retain some semblance of control. But it was becoming far too easy to let go, as his hips rolled into hers, their bodies writhing in perfect unison, a dark, demented dance that was choreographed just for them.

The Bond only seemed to make matters worse - or better, perhaps - as it fizzed and sparkled jaggedly through the Force. Each move, each breath, each sigh was intensified as Rey and Kylo felt the other's sensations in addition to their own. The pleasure was so immense, so stupendous, that it took her breath away. She wanted - no, desperately _needed_ \- more…

Judging by the way his face was contorted with raw, carnal desire, and the ragged, needy growls that were tearing from his throat as she rocked into him, the experience was much the same for him. " _Rey…"_ he was whispering, over and over again. " _Rey…"_

She leaned down, never one to pass up an opportunity to torment him, even in her current state. "Like I said," she panted. "You're the one who's weak."

He choked out an amused, breathless laugh. "Am I?" He drew himself into an upright position, taking her firmly by the hips and effortlessly shuffling her so that she was on all fours in front of him. One of those wide hands reached up and twisted back her hair again, freeing it of its three buns, sending a river of chestnut brown cascading down his forearm. Despite herself, her body throbbed at the raw display of dominance. Uttering a groan that was quite possibly the sexiest sound she'd ever heard leave a man's throat, he thrust into her, hard and endlessly, and she trembled and moaned.

"Need I... remind you..." he growled lasciviously into her ear, his breath hot and insistent against her neck, "that you're the one who's... on your knees... in front of me... needy... and breathless... at the feel of my cock?"

Her toes curled at the filth and indecency of his words, and she whined desperately as he fucked her deeper.

"I wonder... if any other man _..._ could ever... fuck you half as well as I can?" he purred derisively. Rey felt a sudden tilt in the Force once more, and she sensed that Kylo was exploiting it, using it to intensify her pleasure. A spectacular feeling of lust washed over her and she wailed and writhed and shuddered, senseless with desire.

His hand freed her hair from its grasp and slid down to stroke her clit, sending her nerves spiraling with inconceivable want. His lips found their way to her ear once again, and he bit her earlobe. "I highly doubt it," he rasped.

She came with a deep, drawn-out cry, her ears ringing and her vision dotting with stars. He followed moments after her, uttering a cracked groan as he laid his head against her back, silent and panting. Rey toppled over, her arms and legs too weak to continue supporting her weight, and Kylo's head came to rest on her shoulder. She found that she was too spent to push him away.

Her entire body was pulsating in time to the thrum of her heartbeat, a numbing, almost-supernatural euphoria settling into her senses as she started to cool down. Seconds ticked by, and Kylo soon lifted his head to gaze at her, raising a cautious, trembling hand to brush a loose strand of hair from her face. That same hand cupped her cheek in an appallingly blatant show of affection, the pad of his thumb circling her lips.

For just a moment, Rey allowed herself to revel in the sensation, in the touch she so desperately craved. Kylo regarded her with a hazy sort of awe, like she was the answer to a prayer, the lilting melody of a song that wouldn't leave his head. And then, to her unabashed astonishment, he leaned down and kissed her; not with the same carnal, intemperate need that he had exhibited before, but with a gentle tenderness that was as disarming as it was... _enjoyable._ Rey sighed against his lips, her fingers once again entwining themselves in his hair. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she felt the warmth suddenly elude her body, the euphoria fading, Kylo's touch suddenly a dull, distant memory. As the world around her melted away, his voice was the last thing that echoed through her head:

" _Come f_ _ind me, Rey... I'll be waiting_ _…"_

The promise trailed off in a whisper that was soon eclipsed by the roar of a sea at high-tide. Cold, biting air fanned at Rey's once-flaming skin. A gentle ocean mist sprayed against her cheeks. The ground beneath her was no longer hot and undulating like a presence in and of itself, but cold, and flat, and rough. Frowning, she opened her eyes, gasping and sitting upright.

She was back on the island. Her staff and its accompanying holster had been discarded several feet away from her, and she was completely alone. The only reminder of previous events that persisted was the faint, throbbing ache between her thighs, and the still-frantic racing of her heart.

Rey shut her eyes, hanging her head in shame and defeat. She sat like this for a while, mentally kicking herself for her weakness, her recklessness, her _stupidity._

She _despised_ that man. Stars above, how she _despised_ him…

And then, rising on trembling legs and collecting her saberstaff, she began the long walk back to camp.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so, so much to everyone who left a response for this story.** **I greatly appreciate the support and interest.**

 **(SPOILERS BELOW)**

 **After having seen The Last Jedi, I've decided to go through with my original idea and continue this story. I honestly haven't been able to get Rey and Kylo off my mind. While I had mixed feelings about the movie in its entirety, I seriously CANNOT believe that the Force Bond is now canon, and that Rian Johnson gave us the insane amount of Reylo goodness that we got. XD**

 **That being said, since I started writing this prior to the film's release, a lot of what's in the material is going to diverge from the canon a little bit; i.e., I'm going to explore Rey's relationship with Luke a bit more, the technicalities of the Force Bond will be a little different than what's presented in the film, etc., etc. I'll try to keep things as consistent with the canon as possible, but hopefully it won't be too jarring to read!**

 **That being said, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and your response would be greatly appreciated!**

* * *

 ** _Two_**

If Master Luke suspected anything, he certainly didn't let on.

In fact, for all intents and purposes, the days following Rey and Kylo's… _encounter_ proceeded in relative normality. Training with the old Jedi continued, but Rey found that her mind was often somewhere else entirely - tortured by a flickering stab of guilt. Roiling with anger. Prickling with anxiety and fear. Or, in her weakest moments, beleaguered by lust, by passing memories of Ben Solo kissing her until she was breathless, his wide, bare hands setting fire to her skin, his stunningly-dark eyes boiling with want…

It was in these moments that she feared what was or wasn't obvious to her Master.

For instance, on a particular day in which the two were training with lightsabers - Luke with his blue and Rey with her saberstaff of white, which she'd fashioned herself under his guidance - she was so absent minded and emotionally burdened that she was struck down by a move that even the most novice of padawans should have been able to parry.

As she lay on the mossy, viridescent mountaintop, panting and shocked by the blow, Luke gazed down at her with a wizened, searching stare. Rey held her breath. The Jedi clicked off his saber, its brilliant beam retracting back into its hilt, and sighed. The abandoned saberstaff beside Rey shut off on its own as well, soaring through the air and landing in Skywalker's open palm. His shrewd eyes narrowed as he regarded her, and suddenly, without a word, he turned and began walking away, his long robes swaying behind him. Quickly, Rey pulled herself to her feet.

"Master Skywalker!" she called out, scurrying after him. She met him at his side, and they started down the mountain in synch.

"Master Skywalker…" Rey echoed, her voice soft, her heart hammering. "What's wrong?"

He scoffed. "I should be asking you the same."

"I don't understand…"

"You're _distracted_ , Rey," Luke said. "You're agitated. Angry. You've been doubting yourself. I've felt it for the last few days, but thought better of badgering you about it. I thought it might go away in time, as you worked on your meditation. Clearly I was wrong."

Rey could only balk at him, nervous, unsure of how to proceed. Luke continued in the absence of her defense.

"We can't continue with training until we move past this. And I can't help you until you ask for my help." He halted in his tracks, bringing Rey to a full stop, as well.

"Rey…" he said earnestly. "Why are you holding back? What's upsetting you?"

She didn't have an answer for him. What was she supposed to say? How could she stand before her Master, who'd taken her in, who believed in her, who'd confessed to her that Kylo Ren had left his life in utter shambles, and tell him that she'd forged some clandestine connection with the same man? That she'd _slept_ with him? She could barely live with herself as it was. Were Master Skywalker to find out about what had transpired, everything would come crashing down.

So instead, Rey swallowed against the tightness in her throat, shaking her head. "Nothing," she replied. "I just… haven't been sleeping well lately. But I'm fine. Really."

He knew she was lying to him. If she hadn't felt his knowing probe crackling through the Force, then it would have been apparent in his expression alone. His canny, calculating eyes flitted across hers, swimming with dismay... and then, a sudden, dawning fear that left a feeling of dread coiling inside her stomach.

"Listen to me," Luke said quietly. "If you're in any sort of danger… if anyone's been trying to… reach out to you… you need to tell me. Now." Skywalker's eyes were firey and stern. "Don't make the mistake of walking that line, Rey."

A cold, sinking worry plummeted through her at that. Her jaw tightened as she held his stare, her heart racing as she tried to remain outwardly calm.

"Everything is fine, Master," Rey choked out. "I promise I'll be better tomorrow."

Disappointment seized hold of Luke's countenance. He shook his head. "No. Take tomorrow to rest."

And with that, he started back down the mountain without another word, leaving Rey shaken and contrite in his wake.

The evening was a cold one.

The winds howled and the ocean roared as Rey lay in her hut, twisted in a heavy blanket that did little to shield her from the sting of Ach-To air, even through the thick flight uniform she wore underneath.

For the past several hours, she'd been trying to will herself to sleep, but wasn't having much luck. Her mind was a tempest of images and feelings; she kept replaying the events that had transpired earlier, the look of disappointment on Master Luke's face, the gnawing ache of guilt that had swept over her afterwards. She had upset the man more than he could have ever known. She was weak. He'd put his faith in her and she was letting him down. Just like his nephew before her.

She _hated_ this. She hated the utter absurdity of this Bond. She hated being at the emotional mercy of a pompous, power-hungry madman. All she wanted was to return to her friends, to the people she knew she couldn't let down, the people who would welcome her with open arms and offer her a moment's peace from Kylo. She wished she could see them again. General Organa. BB-8. _Finn._

Instead, it seemed like she was doomed to live out her life in shadow and shame - always just out of reach of her Master's good graces. Light Years away from the people she loved most. Running from Kylo. Battling him. Pining for him...

That was undoubtedly the worst part of all.

Not only did she have to live with the all-consuming guilt that accompanied falling prey to his advances… she had to account for the fact that she'd actually _enjoyed_ it. In fact, truthfully speaking, it was all she'd been able to think about.

No one had _ever_ made her feel the way that Kylo Ren did on that night. No one had ever touched her in such a way, with an intoxicating blend of reverence and passion. No one had ever aroused her so deeply, left her trembling and needy from just a heated, passing gaze, or a hungrily-whispered sentiment. And while she was certain that much of her obsession had to do with their Bond, Rey simply couldn't deny the things he did to her… the ways in which he infected her mind… she wanted him… oh, how she wanted him…

Even now, her heart was starting to race, her nether regions stirring to life as thoughts of him flooded her mind. Rey would have preferred not to admit it, but the fact that he hadn't tried to reach her for the last few days was jarring in ways that she couldn't fully comprehend. Mostly because it was bringing to light all the things that she was missing… everything she secretly, desperately desired, heightening her lust and driving her over the edge.

The prick… that was probably wholly his intention.

 _I have to be stronger than this,_ Rey told herself, even as her hand trailed down towards the space between her thighs.

She drew in a sharp, shaky breath. "Don't think about it," she whispered aloud. "Just go to sleep."

But as she closed her eyes, all she saw was him - his tall, burly body, rippling and slick with sweat, his full lips burning her skin as they nipped and kissed, his aching eyes, tormented by lecherous want as they held onto hers in the dark...

Rey shook her head, tossing onto her other side with a huff. _No._ She was _not_ doing this tonight. Master Luke was right - she needed rest. She had to distract herself.

 _Anything but him. Think about_ anything _but him._

The island.

The Falcon.

Junkyard parts.

Porgs...

His voice, low and seductive, purring filth into her ear with an almost lyrical eroticism. _I_ _wonder if any other man could ever fuck you half as well as I can...?_

Rey's eyes flew open. She turned onto her other side, pulling the blanket over her head.

Droids.

Lightsabers.

White.

Red…

Clashing against each other, like bodies in motion, bucking and thrashing in a flurry of fiery sparks.

 _I swear by the Force itself, you'll never dream of resisting me again…_

Beneath the blanket, Rey let out an irritated groan. That ridiculous, arrogant _ass!_ This was entirely his fault. Of all the people in the galaxy, why did she have to be Bound to him? It was the universe's cruelest joke. Stars above, he was so…

So…

Her heartbeat quickened at the sudden memory of Ren between her thighs, smirking up at her, eyes scorching her from behind his dark layers of hair.

Need tore into Rey and she let out a shuddering sigh. Without even realizing it, her fingers had already nudged their way between her pants and into her slick, throbbing folds. She toyed with herself, her other hand reaching up to fondle her breasts. Her back arched against the cold, stone floor, her skin prickling with sudden heat.

Imagined visions of Kylo looming in front of her and taking his thick, hard cock in hand surged through her mind. _"Do you see what you do to me?"_ she remembered him saying. Rey moaned, her body starting to soar. She envisioned him stroking himself as she slicked her fingers within her own wetness, recalled the exhilarating sounds he made, imagined him losing all control at just the sight of her…

"Yes," she panted in the dark. " _Yes_ …"

Rey rolled onto her back. The blanket shimmied down to her waist as her body twisted and writhed. She drove deeper into her core, faster, harder, her mind throwing up wild, lust-driven images of she and him engaged in the most reckless, animalistic acts.

Suddenly, the Force fizzed and snapped as an overwhelming lust washed over her like rainfall. Rey's toes were curling, her breath coming loose in short, desperate pants. What she was feeling couldn't have been her own sense of arousal alone… it was far too intoxicating, too immediate and powerful.

No. This meant that _he_ was nearby.

As awareness dawned on her, she sensed his Force signature crackling through the atmosphere, like a specter rising out of the mist.

Rey blushed, her fingers slowing to a halt.

 _"Oh, don't stop,"_ Kylo purred, his voice fractured with desire yet unmistakably smug. _"By all means,_ please, _keep going."_

"Stop. _Watching_ me."

 _"I can't help myself. You're so lovely to watch…"_

She sighed. "Fuck you."

She felt him gently push into her mind, and, despite herself, she allowed him to see and feel the sultry thoughts that simmered there. _"Hm. You do seem fixated on fucking me,"_ he teased. _"Not that I'm complaining, of course."_

The faintest grazes of unseen fingers slowly started to caress her, up and down, further fueling sparks she'd been trying for days to put to rest.

"You could at least have the common decency to respect my privacy," she said, and while the words were biting, her tone was gentle and quivering with need.

 _"I suppose I could, but you wouldn't really want that, would you?"_ he breathed. _"No… even now, I can feel your heart accelerating. Your excitement. Your desire…"_

Rey's eyes rolled back. Her lips parted in a small exchange of breath as his ministrations grew more potent, her body responding to his touch, opening up to him like a flower in bloom.

"I…" she stumbled over her words, "I can feel yours, too…"

 _"Of course you can. I've been waiting for you, Rey,"_ he murmured desperately, invisible hands taking shape as the Force drew them together once more. _"Come to me."_

Rey resisted him, pulling the blanket up and holding it tighter against her, as though it might shield her from the dizzying effect of his sensuality.

The soft, tingling touches came to a sudden stop. She felt a flicker of annoyance flare within him, and then, curiosity and concern.

 _"You're afraid,"_ he surmised, startled. _"But… not of me…"_ A pause, and then a quiet, simpering chuckle. _"You're afraid of your own feelings; how badly you want me. I see… don't be scared, Rey."_

Another red-hot stab of hunger tore through her, like a knife twisting in her stomach, paired with a comfortless anguish that she knew only he could quiet. An intense, inescapable ache, an amalgamation of lust and loneliness and something dangerously close to affection.

 _"Show yourself to me."_

The waves of feeling pulled her under, and with a sharp gasp, Rey opened her eyes.

She was back in the Force nexus, only this time, the landscape had… _changed_. What was once a vast, hazy expanse of nothingness was now a dark, dense forest. Lush, exotic greenery twisted and curved all around her, the sweet and musky scents of unfamiliar flowers billowing through her lungs. Colossal, leafless trees twisted into the black sky, strung together by the thread of a massive, cloud-obscured moon, shrouding the forest in a dusky blend of light and darkness.

Rey looked around her in unrestrained wonderment, memories of Takodana and the snow-drenched woods where the two of them first fought called to light. She rose from the heaving forest floor, the blanket still clinging to her body, and spoke to him, having sensed his presence before actually seeing him.

"What is this place?" she asked. She turned to find Kylo standing a short distance away from her, reverentially running his gloved fingers across the crimson petals of a flower. Her stomach coiled into knots at the sight of him in the flesh (more or less) for the first time since their previous rendezvous; his sable hair and pale skin catching in the moonlight, his statuesque figure half-hidden in shadow.

"This is what we built," he answered solemnly. "The power of the Force; of what we can do when we come together."

Rey's breath caught in her throat as he turned and looked at her, those stony eyes cementing her to the spot. They trekked down her body - as though he could see right through the fabric of her blanket and the clothes underneath - and back up again, darkening with a libidinous smirk.

"You look nervous."

It was in that moment that Rey remembered how to breathe. "I'm - I'm not," she said, clearing her throat. "I'm just confused as to why the hell you're bothering me. Again."

His eyebrows rose impishly. "You're the one lying awake at night, lusting after me and touching yourself, and somehow I'm still at fault? Interesting."

"I wasn't exactly giving you an invitation to watch."

"You may as well have been. I felt you calling me..."

She scoffed. "I did no such thing!"

"I wouldn't be here if you hadn't," he said earnestly. "I told myself I would only come to you if you called… and I waited… and you _did_." All at once, Rey found herself disarmed by the feelings of longing that flowed out of him and into her; a yearning that was not necessarily of a sexual kind (though that desire persisted, as well), but more of an emotional, melancholic ache.

"You may not have summoned me with words, or even consciously, but I _felt_ you, Rey. You called to me. So here I am."

He started towards her, each long, lumbering step quickening the pace of her heart. In her state of distraction, her grip on the blanket loosened, sending it cascading from her shoulders and falling to the floor.

"You know… I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since the last time we met," he went on, in that low, seductive voice that rocketed her out of her element. "How you moved… the scent of your skin…" he approached her and dwarfed one of her smaller hands in his own, bringing it to his lips and sucking away her juices, still coated to her fingertips. Rey shivered as he shut his eyes and made a husky sound in the back of his throat. "The way you tasted… you've been torturing me. Every day and all night."

Rey's mouth watered, her body throbbing as she reacted to the feelings of their mutual yearning through the Bond.

"But that doesn't matter anymore," Kylo said. He reached out, snaking one hand around her waist, pulling her closer, while the other caressed her cheek with a warmth that made her blood run cold. "Because you're here with me now. And we'll give ourselves to each other, over and over again, until the stars explode." The faintest of smiles flashed over his mouth. "Just like I knew we would…"

And with that, he kissed her, and Rey's world was suddenly on fire. Oh, she'd missed this. She'd _wanted_ this, unwaveringly, ever since that fated night; since he'd pulled her into a frantic, impassioned kiss and fucked her into a state of near oblivion. If her body was in control, she would have him throw her on the ground and take her, until she was soaring like the crashing crescendo of a symphony.

But her mind was in the pilot's seat. And her mind was screaming for her to stop.

The kiss began to intensify, his hands fumbling at her waist, his body shaking with anticipation, when Rey suddenly pulled away from him.

Kylo staggered forward as she fell back. He looked at her, his shadowy eyes glittering with confusion beyond the swirling lust, his breathing shallow.

He blinked. "What is it?"

She swallowed, alarmed by the glossiness of sudden, unshed tears that barbed behind her eyes. "This is all wrong - you and I."

Kylo frowned. "What are you talking about…?"

"I'm talking about the fact that I've made a terrible mistake," she told him, shaking her head. "We can't… _I_ can't be with you. I can't sleep with you. No matter how badly… I just _can't_. I wasn't thinking clearly last time…"

"Rey…"

"I was weak, but I know I can be stronger than this Bond. I have to be."

She took his silence as an opportunity to continue.

"I'm sorry. But I'm not doing this ever again. It all ends tonight."

He looked wounded, at first, his eyes wide and his lips trembling in a way that made him look like a dog that had just been kicked by its master. A part of Rey's heart ached for him, and the tears finally fell at the sight of Kylo like this, shaking and miserably woeful.

But quickly, that faded, and a blistering rage festered on his beautiful, anguished face. The clouds above swallowed the glow of the moon, and the entire forest suddenly gave way to darkness. Rey shivered.

"'Stronger than this Bond'?" Kylo echoed bitterly, dangerously. "Look around you, Rey!" he snapped, gesturing to the massive expanse of herbs and trees that sprawled before them, the world they'd made as one. " _No one_ is stronger than this!"

"Ben…?" Rey said, trying to reach him, stepping back.

" _Why_?" he all but growled. "Why are you doing this now?" He moved towards her, razor-sharp fury in every step. "It was _Skywalker_ , wasn't it? Did he put you up to this?"

"No, he didn't!" she barked, backing into a tree. "To have the nerve to think that I'd even tell him about us - it would kill him!"

"I'd hope so," Kylo said viciously. "Maybe then you'd finally come to your senses."

Rey gaped at him in disgust. "That's a horrible, _wicked_ thing to say!"

"Well, it's true!" he retaliated, his voice cracking. He turned away from her, pacing the distance between them like a furious, caged animal, his hands balled tightly into fists. With a roar, he drove one of those fists into the trunk of a nearby tree, the sheer force of the blow splintering the bark and leaving it concave. Rey jumped.

"What can he give you that I can't?!" Ren snarled, turning to face her once more with hell in his eyes.

Rey was too stunned to respond.

" _Tell me_!" he cried, and the ground shook beneath them with the brunt of his rage. "Why do you always remain so steadfastly loyal to _him_? You're Bound to _me._ You want _me_! And you can deny it to your heart's content, but I _know_ you, Rey…"

"It makes no difference. He's my Master!"

"He's a fraud!" Kylo snapped. "You idealize him, just like everyone else. You only know him as far as what you allow yourself to see. You don't have a clue who he truly is, or what he's capable of, like I do. He's _my_ blood!"

"And when have you ever given a damn about _that_?"

In one single, fluid stride, Kylo was looming above her, slamming his palms against the tree she was flush with, caging her in. They gazed at each other, their heavy breathing falling in perfect sync.

" _You_ …" he panted through grit teeth. "You conniving, calculating _temptress_." He spat the word at her with all the darkness of a death knell, and Rey glared at him.

"Have you forgotten who I am?" he went on. "What you're up against? I know exactly where you are… hiding on that God-forsaken island with that _bastard_. I've been biding my time, but that's over now. I'll find you, and I will destroy you both."

"You won't," Rey promised, her voice trembling through her tears. "You know what Snoke wants - if Luke dies, then I die, too. And you will _never_ be able to kill me."

He leaned in close. "Then give yourself to me - let me have you, all of you - and I'll never have to."

" _No_ …"

Kylo let out another furious growl, pushing away from the tree and resuming his pacing, fists clenching and unclenching as he searched for something to destroy, something to unleash his anger on. "You would risk so much… for _him_?!" he cried, as the forest rumbled and a cluster of trees crackled and split down the middle behind him.

"Open your eyes! This isn't just about Skywalker!" Rey sobbed. She shut her eyes. She didn't want to cry anymore, especially in front of him. She wanted to be strong. But she was so, so tired.

"I spent sixteen years of my life on Jakku," she continued. "Lonely. Scared. Hoping, _praying_ that somewhere in the galaxy, there was at least one person who loved me. Now I know what love is, and I'm not giving it up. I'm not betraying them!"

"I can give you so much more, Rey," Kylo said desperately. "Power. Riches. I'll teach you the true ways of the Force. I can show you things you never dreamed were possible…"

"I don't give a damn about any of that!" she cried. "I'm not yours to keep, and I can't be bribed. If you want me, you know what you have to do. You know who you have to become."

His eyes were slick with tears, encompassed by pain as he nudged into their Bond, imploring her to understand; begging her to stay. "I can't…"

Rey broke his gaze, unable to face him in the wake of their sudden, shared heartache, and trained her eyes on the misty ground. She swallowed, her voice hardly rising above a whisper. "Then I'm sorry."

Kylo shook his head, frenetic horror rippling off of him in waves. "No… no, please - don't go…"

But she was already leaving him, her mind trailing the cord that went back to the island, leading her home.

"Rey…" Kylo's voice was full of rage and pain, wracked by freely-flowing tears. "If you walk away from me, I'll destroy everything! I promise you I will! _Stop_!"

He reached out and took her hand.

And that's when everything around her zapped into focus like a shock from a lightning bolt.

Rey gasped, her body going rigid and numb as visions flashed before her eyes at light-speed. Beautiful, suffocating awareness that whizzed through her consciousness in fragments that came together to form a whole:

 _Light. Darkness. Pain. Lust. Life - dancing inside her womb like a pocket of stardust. Love. The First Order. Destruction. The Resistance. Ben Solo. Belonging. A child. A family. A meeting of Dark and Light._

 _The Balance…_

She let out a fragmented scream as she let go of his hand, and the visions came to an abrupt stop. Her heart was pounding with astonishment, her skin blisteringly cold. Judging by the terror and amazement stewing in his gaze, Rey knew he had just seen and felt the exact same thing.

For a moment, they could only stare at each other, each wondering what the hell it was they had just experienced, yet simultaneously more aware than ever before.

She swayed, engulfed by a torrent of dizziness, and Kylo moved to catch her.

"Rey!"

 _"Rey...?"_

Another voice - Skywalker's - echoed distortedly through the nexus. She felt herself moving towards it, fading away into the physical realm, even as Ren held her in his strong, unwavering arms.

"No," Kylo was saying. "No - wait - "

 _"Rey? Wake up… are you alright? Rey?"_

"You can't… you can't keep leaving like this… _Rey!_ "

 ** _"Rey!"_**

With a strong, sputtering gasp, her physical body roared to life.

She was on all fours on the floor of her hut, coughing and heaving as fresh air filled her lungs. Master Luke and Chewbacca were kneeling before her, expressions of mirroring concern coloring their visages. The sun was starting to set beyond the stony walls, and Rey knew she'd probably been out for quite some time - hours. Maybe even a day or two...

Luke took her by the shoulders, his troubled eyes searing into her own. Behind him, Chewie let out a worried growl.

"Rey…" Skywalker said gravely, "what happened? What did you see?"

As soon as there was life in her veins once again, tears flooded her vision. "He knows where we are," she sobbed. The Jedi's eyes widened with panic. "He's coming… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, Master…"

Uncaring of pre-existing formalities between apprentice and tutor (and Skywalker's own surliness), Rey tossed her arms around him, sobbing into the fabric of his heavy robes. Luke went rigid with surprise, hesitant hands coming up to tentatively pat her back.

She felt him twist his body towards Chewbacca. "Ready the Falcon," he said soberly to the Wookie. "We have to get off this island."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait for an update - I just started an internship that's taking up a lot of my time, so I haven't had very many opportunities to write.**

 **This is a shorter chapter, but it's also Kylo-centric (and I know we all love that :D), so hopefully that makes up for the length! It was originally going to involve Rey's POV as well, but it started to get reeeeeaallly long, and I already have a tendency to write super-lengthy chapters, so I decided to cut it down a bit.**

 **ALSO, I made a Spotify playlist for this fic! It can be found here:**

 **user/calliopekismet/playlist/5WeFJfZZKWVTXdTOh7nIdj**

 **So feel free to listen at your leisure.**

 **Anyway, as always, your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Three**_

 _"You can't… you can't keep leaving like this…_ Rey!"

Kylo Ren awoke with a harsh gasp, beads of icy sweat coating his skin. His bare chest rose and fell heavily in tandem with his rapidly-beating heart, strands of dark hair clinging to his damp brow. His ears were buzzing with the strength of the Force as it snarled through the atmosphere, so tremendous in its power that it left him shaking in the face of it.

He tore the heavy sheets of his bed away from him, swinging his long, trembling legs over the side and cradling his head in his hands. He was no longer in the dense woods of his and Rey's Force nexus, but in his sumptuous quarters aboard the Supremacy. The room was a stark change from his chambers on Starkiller; the lofty, gold-plated ceiling, silk-spun blankets and opulent furniture were a bit too lavish for his tastes, somehow made even more disconcerting in the wake of the encounter he'd just had.

Kylo let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes. There was somethingabout this particular run-in with Rey that was decidedly troubling, even beyond the inexorable heartache he felt at the realization that she was distancing herself from him, _again._

Even now, just moments after being released from the Bond's hypnotic trance, Ren could feel a very-distinct change sifting through the Force. He'd noticed it immediately in the nexus, when he'd taken her hand and seen kaleidoscopic apparitions of a world that did not yet exist. Bursts of vivid feelings - love, lust, heartache, belonging - had overpowered him, as well as something else entirely. Something annoyingly inscrutable, like a passing train of thought; shapeless and unformed, yet horribly familiar.

But what _was_ it? What was the Force trying to show him? His future? Another life? Had Rey experienced the same premonition? He was certain she had - she'd practically passed out in his arms in the aftermath of it, after all. But if that was the case, had she seen something different? Something that had scared her enough to send her running back to Skywalker?

And what was he supposed to make of the _children...?_

In his vision, he'd seen ephemeral flashes of two young girls - likely no older than three - identical in their doll-like features, with midnight-black hair and deep, soulful eyes. Two piercing orbs of hazel, dotted with flecks of green and gold, haunting in their familiarity...

And now, the Force rippled with undulating currents of jagged, unrestrained power, inherently recognizable and yet disturbingly foreign, like fragmented reflections in a broken mirror. Very dull but very distinct. Stars... what _was_ it?

He found himself desperately pushing into the Force, searching for Rey, horrified to discover that he couldn't... _feel_ her anymore. She was doing a particularly superb job of masking her signature, no doubt with the help of his bastard uncle. She may not have wanted to tell Luke about the two of them before, but it seemed as though, after last time, she didn't have much of a choice.

 _"Rey?"_ he called out into the endless, mystical void. _"I know you can hear me. We need to talk about what happened..."_

Silence.

 _"Rey - "_ he tried again, this time more urgently. _"Please..."_

For a moment, still, there was nothing, until a thick, piercing presence rattled through his head. Not Rey's, but something decidedly more menacing and sinister...

 **Kylo Ren,** Supreme Leader Snoke's voice rang clearly in his eardrums, measured in tone yet still full of indisputable bite, making it impossible to read. Kylo's heart plunged into his stomach at the sudden intrusion.

 **Bring yourself to me at once.**

Snoke's force signature faded from his consciousness just as quickly as it had appeared, but the paralyzing panic that seized Ren in its wake did not.

 _Kriff._ This was not good.

Anytime his Master summoned him for an audience, there was usually a problem. Snoke spent a lot of time in Kylo's head. They didn't share a Bond in the same way that he shared one with Rey, and the man afforded him enough privacy that Kylo didn't feel like a rat in a cage, but the Supreme Leader was certainly able to communicate with Ren in times like these, when he'd obviously done something very, very wrong.

And Kylo was certain that that something had to do with Rey.

No. This was _definitely_ not good.

Nonetheless, Ren rose off the bed on unsteady legs and dressed himself with quaking fingers, understanding that keeping the Supreme Leader waiting could only spell far worse consequences in the end. Before long, he was once again shrouded in endless, shadowy layers of black, the last of his garments being his silver and onyx mask. He placed it over his head and fastened it in place, feeling oddly comforted by its familiar, mechanical hiss. He took a moment, breathing in deeply, steeling himself for the worst, before stomping out of his chambers.

He strode into the halls of the Supremacy, the heavy footfalls of his boots thudding against the pristine floor. A few stormtroopers who were patrolling the area stepped out of the way as he passed, visibly tensing even beneath the layers of metal.

"Sir," a few of them greeted him gruffly, and he acknowledged them with a stiff nod, feeling their gazes searing into his back as he lumbered into the elevator at the end of the corridor.

The ascent to Snoke's throne room was brief but anxiety-inducing, especially as the doors slid open and he was met with a view of the rich, blood-red walls and the monstrous throne upon which the Supreme Leader himself was sitting. Kylo was seized by a fleeting moment of hesitancy before he waltzed out of the elevator and approached his Master, who was swathed in golden robes and flanked by the faceless Elite Praetorian guards. He took a knee, bowing his head, waiting for the man to address him.

Even with his eyes cast on the ground and hidden beneath a mask, Ren could practically _feel_ the Supreme's Leader's intense, calculating gaze as he stared down at him. He decided he must have suffered a hundred heart attacks in the span of the silence that stretched on unforgivably, in which his Master watched him, simmering with palpable rage, likely considering which was the most painful or humiliating way in which to breach the obvious.

Eventually, Snoke's resonant voice echoed through the throne room.

"Take that ridiculous thing off so I can look you in the eye, Kylo Ren," the withered, serpentine creature hissed.

Kylo's heart thudded unevenly. Swallowing, he reached up and unlatched the helmet, his long, raven hair spilling out onto his shoulders, his eyes trained carefully on the floor.

"Ah. My most... _impressive_ pupil," Snoke went on, and the sardonic growl in his tone was painfully impossible to miss. "Master of the Knights of Ren. Heir apparent to Lord Vader... communing with rebel garbage of your own volition, and against my orders."

Kylo flinched, fearing what would ultimately follow this revelation, now that the truth was out in the open. _Skrog,_ he was such a fool. How could he have been so stupid to recklessly seek out Rey right under Snoke's nose? His Master was always the wiser. Even in the days of his childhood, somehow, the old Sith had always seemed ten steps ahead of everyone else. No matter what, he always knew... about _everything._

Yet somehow, the glow of Rey's green eyes and the taste of her lips had made him forget that fact.

"Master," Kylo said softly, "forgive me. Please."

The Supreme Leader chuckled derisively. "We shall see about that, child," he said mirthlessly. "Now. Tell me - for how long has this been going on?"

Ren's stomach dropped. His hands were starting to tremble, and when he spoke again, his voice was thick. "Since... since shortly after Starkiller -"

The words had barely left his lips before an excruciating pain boiled through his nerves like lava. Kylo sputtered, letting out a strangled cry as Snoke struck him with a dark blast of Force lightning, the strength of it knocking him on his back, leaving him choking and breathless. Shakily, the dark warrior pulled himself onto his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for breath, his eyes flooding with tears.

"You _fool!"_ Snoke bellowed. "Did you truly think that I wouldn't find out? That the truth would not eventually reveal itself to me? I've had my suspicions about this nonsense for quite some time now. Your latest test was solely reliant on whether or not you would confirm them to me." He let out a heavy sigh. "But, of course, as you are prone to an inescapable tendency towards cowardice, you failed."

Kylo's head snapped up immediately. "I'm _not_ a coward," he retorted, forgetting himself.

Snoke's eyes danced with malice as a cruel smile curled against his weathered lips. "Ah, you're right, my young apprentice," he sneered. "You are so much more: weak. Pathetic. _Insubordinate!_ You've known where that disgusting desert rat has been hiding since the destruction of Starkiller! And yet, did I not _explicitly_ demand that she be brought to me?"

"She will be, Supreme Leader. You have my word..."

Snoke let out a hearty, sonorous laugh. "Is that so?" he hissed, leaning on the edge of his throne, like a snake poised to kill. "Your _word..._ is as useless as you are, Kylo Ren."

The young man blanched, the insult stinging worse than the frosty bite of evening air on Hoth.

"However..." Snoke continued, and Kylo held his breath, steeling himself for what he was certain would be another barrage of physical or verbal attacks. Instead, what came next surprised him.

"There is a chance that your injudiciousness may do well to serve our cause," the Supreme Leader said. "I sense a change taking shape within the Force. I assume you do, as well."

Ren blinked, his heart shuddering in his rib cage. "I do."

Snoke gave a slow, wistful nod. "Curiously, it reminds me of you, when you were growing in your mother's womb. In your earliest heartbeats, I sensed that same raw, unbroken power; chaotic and indiscriminate. It surges through the Force again, now. _And..._ with the faintest traces of your own signature." He fixed Ren with a scrutinizing stare that chilled the younger man down to his bones. "I wonder..." his Master growled, a dawning realization flickering over his wilted features, "about you and this girl..."

A tidal wave of embarrassment roared through the young Sith at the not-so-subtle implication. He fidgeted beneath the Supreme Leader's gaze, his face burning with shame.

"Well...?" Snoke pressed on, his tone caught somewhere between amusement and disgust. "Have you lain with that rebel garbage?"

Kylo's heartbeat went into feverish hysteria at the Supreme Leader's astonishing bluntness. Too stunned and humiliated to offer an immediate reply, he instead focused on holding onto consciousness, as the crimson walls were starting to tilt, and he was beginning to feel dangerously lightheaded.

"I asked you a question, Kylo Ren!"

He shivered. "Yes," was his feeble reply.

Snoke scoffed. "Incredible. _You,_ heir to our Order, who could have any woman in the galaxy... and you choose _her_ , _"_ the old man shook his head in utter disbelief. "Well. Lust works in mysterious ways, does it not? And you may have been carnal with that Jedi scum in a moment of unparalleled weakness..."

Kylo recoiled, wishing he could sink beneath the mirrored floor.

"But said weakness could potentially produce... remarkable results..."

The young knight felt his blood turn to ice inside his veins. There was a quiet, avaricious confidence in the Supreme Leader's tone, and suddenly, the man was gazing down at him from his throne as if he were seeing him for the first time. Kylo fought against the urge to shudder; Snoke's unspoken implications were giving life to what he already deeply, privately feared. That perhaps there was more to his and Rey's connection than just the emotional anguish and physical pleasure. And even though he and the scavenger had never given themselves to each other in the flesh, perhaps there were consequences of their union that he hadn't previously foreseen. Maybe... just maybe...

Suddenly, Kylo let out a grunt of surprise as he felt the sinister weight of his Master's presence ebb into his consciousness, searing through his thoughts, his memories, laying everything bare. _Everything._ Ren could do nothing but grit his teeth and wait for the assault to come to an end, as Snoke rifled through achingly-vivid images of _her;_ her lips against his mouth, her legs wrapped around him, the intoxicating melody of her breathless cries and gasps as they carried through the Force and filled him with such an odd blend of comfort and _need..._

He trembled, absolutely mortified by the intrusion. "S-Supreme Leader..." he begged quietly. "Please..."

But Snoke would not stop.

Kylo's head began to pound with a dull-but-ever-increasing ache as Snoke tore into his mind further - searching, _eager,_ like a drunk unfastening a bottle of Corellian wine. Deeper and deeper he cut into his subconscious, unpackaging his secrets, his fears, any and all that had to do with Rey, and Ren staggered forward, his equilibrium shattered by the power of his Master's greed. He gasped as the pain in his skull flared like white-hot flames racing along his temple.

 _"Master..."_ Kylo pleaded desperately.

Upon his throne, Snoke's horribly-lopsided face was twisted into an ugly, apathetic sneer, his long, gnarled fingers outstretched towards the younger man as he squirmed and panted on the floor before him. Memories continued to flash before his eyes under the Supreme Leader's command. Memories of the Force nexus, the fight he and Rey had had in it, the trees splintering at the bark and the clouds passing over the moon. His pain. His terror at the thought of her leaving him. Her small hand, radiating warmth even through the leather of his glove, as he reached for her, and then -

 _The girls._

Those two silent, dark-haired girls, gazing back at him with eyes that were so powerful and so treacherously, horribly familiar that it made him want to scream. Something about Snoke seeing them, knowing them, _understanding_ who they were and what they meant to him, before even Kylo himself did, felt oddly... _perverse._ Even more so than all the _other_ things the man had invited himself to see. Something about the sight of those girls felt far too intimate. Too close to home. The rage that accompanied Snoke witnessing this vision was just as startling and surprising as the instinctive, body-numbing fear that came with it...

A shuddering, gasping cry tore from Kylo's throat as the Supreme Leader swiftly withdrew from his mind, and the dark apprentice fought to catch his breath and regain his composure. The withered old figure watched him from the throne with narrowed, disbelieving eyes, his aura radiating rage and disgust, yet at the same time, something that vaguely resembled awe.

"Well, well," the Supreme Leader purred, his countenance giving way to a hideous, jackal-like smirk. "Remarkable results, indeed..."

The implication was obvious, but Kylo shook his head. "No..." he said hoarsely. "Master - what you're suggesting - it isn't possible..."

"You already know it to be true, Ren," Snoke replied flatly. "Just as you know that the Force works in ways we are not always meant to understand. And now, it is becoming apparent..." his voice dropped to a low, covetous growl, "that destiny has ensured us two more scions of Lord Vader..."

For one long, torturous moment, Ren thought his heart had stopped beating. _No._ It _couldn't_ be. A father? _Him?_ He let out a trembling breath, suddenly imagining the small, round faces of two babies gazing up at him, their mouths parting in toothless grins, their tiny hands clawing at his fingers. He thought of the girls from his vision, with their dark hair and evocative eyes... eyes that he was suddenly realizing looked exactly like Rey's...

"Then it's true...?" he whispered, stunned. "I am... to have _children_ _...?"_

"So it seems, my young heir. And not just any children," Snoke replied. "But children of Light and Dark, born of the Force itself; the likes of which the galaxy has not encountered since your grandfather. Do you understand?"

He nodded, feeling a thousand miles away from his own body, like a third party in a feverish dream. If what the Supreme Leader said was true... then his progenies would likely be among the strongest Force users in the galaxy; imbued with the powers of Light _and_ Dark, with a fate stretched before them that was grander and more momentous than he could presently begin to comprehend.

"Yes," Kylo said breathlessly.

"Good. Now - time is of the essence, and you will do as you are _instructed._ Any deviation from my orders will result in the swiftest consequences, is that clear?"

Kylo swallowed. "It is, Master."

"Very well. Then bring the girl to the Supremacy. We will turn her to our cause, and we will raise your offspring in Darkness."

His... _offspring._ The very idea of him fathering children (and with _Rey,_ of all people) was already jarring enough, but paired with the way that Snoke spoke of these babies - like they were cattle to be raised for slaughter - Kylo was left feeling a little uneasy.

"Supreme Leader - if I may," he said quietly, "it's not that simple. The girl would rather die than devote herself to the Dark. She..." he shook his head, "she hates me..."

"She will learn," Snoke said confidently. "As will you: a mother's love for her children can be her greatest weakness."

Kylo blinked. Thoughts of Leia Organa - her warm smile, her firm embrace, her endless love, even when it was deeply misguided - filtered through his mind, but he immediately pushed the memories away.

 _This_ was his life, now. This was his family - the orb of cells and power blooming within his Bondmate, the lady herself, and the monstrous king leering at him from upon his throne. All he had left in the universe was his legacy, and while he was scared, confused, and utterly overwhelmed by this turn of events, he couldn't afford to shy away from it.

This was his destiny.

"Now..." the Supreme Leader snarled. "Kylo Ren - son of Darkness, father to the heirs of the First Order - go. Find her."

Kylo straightened his shoulders in an effort to appear more composed and in control then he actually felt. Choking out a husky "Yes, Master," he turned on his heel, striding out of the throne room and into the elevator, helmet in hand. He felt the Supreme Leader's eyes on him up until the doors slid shut.

Alone in the lift, his heart was racing. He staggered against the elevator walls, an avalanche of emotions clouding his weathered mind.

 _Children._ A family. All of his own. The circumstances may have been... _atypical,_ but maybe, after years of pain and neglect and suffering, the Force was giving him a chance to start over - a chance to love and be loved in all the ways he'd so desperately craved. _Finally,_ someone would want him. Need him. There would be no more loneliness. No more heartache. For the first time in many, many years, someone - his daughters - would love him.

And Rey... well... maybe in time, she'd grow to love him, too. At the very least, she'd never be able to leave him again.

He edged into the Force, stroking the flames of their Bond once more, calling to her across the stars. He needed to see her. To hear her voice. He had to know if she was aware of what was happening; of the glorious, wondrous journey the Force had chosen to take them on. He was positive that if he and Snoke already knew, there was no doubt that she did, as well. But he'd never know if she continued to close herself off from him...

Kylo frowned as, sure enough, he was once again met with cold, blistering silence.

Well. Her tenacity was as admirable as it was infuriating. But she wouldn't be able to keep it up forever, and this was an easily-solvable problem. Just as he'd told Rey in the Force nexus, Kylo knew exactly where she and Luke were holed up. The island of Ach-To. And he wasn't going to waste anymore time. He would go to her. He would kill the last Jedi. And he would bring his family home.

The doors to the elevator slid open, suddenly, revealing a trio of First Order officers who straightened and tensed at the sight of Kylo before them. He regarded them with a determined, wild-eyed stare.

"Get my knights and ready my ship," he growled, his dark cape fanning out behind him like smoke as he brushed past them, resolution in every step.


End file.
